EN GARDE!

Swashbuckling Skirmish Wargames Rules

OSPREY
Craig Woodfield WARGAMES

21/09/2015 13:58
 AU T H O R
Craig Woodfield is a defence analyst from Canberra,
Australia, and has previously written for magazines such
as Slingshot and Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. He is the
author of the Ronin Samurai skirmish rules in the Osprey
Wargames series and a number of wargaming supplements.
He has a long-standing interest in martial arts and military
history.
I L LU S T R ATO R S
Peter Dennis was born in 1950. Inspired by contemporary
magazines such as Look and Learn he studied illustration
at Liverpool Art College. Peter has since contributed to
hundreds of books, predominantly on historical subjects,
including many Osprey titles. A keen wargamer and
modelmaker, he is based in Nottinghamshire, UK.

D I S CO V E R M O R E AT W W W.O S P R E Y G A M E S.CO.U K

OWG 4 • 978 1 78096 846 9 OWG 7 • 978 1 4728 0140 1 OWG 8 • 978 1 78200 635 0

OWG 9 • 978 1 4728 0770 0 OWG 11 • 978 1 4728 0809 7 OWG 13 • 978 1 4728 1571 2

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 EN GARDE!
SWASHBUCKLING SKIRMISH WARGAMES RULES

CRAIG WOODFIELD

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1MD Acknowledgements
Thanks to everybody who purchased Ronin, played it, and provided me with
First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Osprey Publishing,
their insights – this game is a more complete because of that. Special thanks to
PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK
Bern Entriken, Gary Adams, Peter West and Alan Traves. Finally, thanks to Phil
PO Box 3985, New York, NY 10185-3985, USA
and all at Osprey.
E-mail: info@ospreypublishing.com
Many thanks also go to Marco Germani, Richard ‘Captain Blood’ Lloyd and
Osprey Publishing, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Patrick Connor for lending their photographs to this book.

© 2016 Craig Woodfield

All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study,
research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical,
chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed
to the Publishers.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Craig Woodfield has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this book.

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Osprey Publishing supports the Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland
conservation charity. Between 2014 and 2018 our donations will be spent on
their Centenary Woods project in the UK.

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 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 4 Civilians 25
What You Need to Play En Garde! 5 Duels 25
Models 5 Mounts 25
Basic Principles 6 Objects 27
Poison 27
TURN SEQUENCE 6 Ships 27
Wagons 27
PRIORITY PHASE 6
Determine Priority 7 CREATING A WARBAND 28
Warband Type 28
MOVE PHASE 7 New Warbands 28
1. Move 10
2. Use a Missile Weapon 11 SAMPLE WARBANDS 30
3. Remove a Reload Counter 11 Landsknechts 30
4. Mount or Dismount 12 The Three Musketeers 31
5. Hide or Rest 12 The Cardinal's Guard 32
6. Aim 12 Conquistadors 34
7. Issue an Order 12 Aztecs 36
8. Take a Special Action 13 Border Reivers 38
English Civil War 39
COMBAT PHASE 13 Swashbucklers 41
Combat 13
Ottoman Empire 43
Combat Procedure 14
Other Periods 45
Making an Attack 15
Ploys 15 SCENARIOS 46
Multiple Combats 16 Setting up the Game 46
Initiating a New Combat 16 Skirmish 48
Which Weapon? 16 Capture 48
Duel 49
WOUNDS 16 Defence 50
Wound Descriptions 17
Escort 51
Wound Table 17
Hold the Bridge 51
COMBAT EXAMPLE 18 Occupy 52
Raid 53
END PHASE 19
1. Test Morale 19 CAMPAIGNS 53
2. Remove Stunned Counters 20 Progression 54
3. Check Victory Conditions 20
APPENDIX A: SIMPLIFIED ATTACK
ARMS AND ARMOUR 21 PROCEDURE 55
Close Combat Weapons 21
Missile Weapons 21 APPENDIX B: THE FANTASTICAL 56
Ordinance 22
Armour 22 APPENDIX C: INSPIRATION AND
Mounts 23
FURTHER READING 60
SPECIAL RULES 23
Attributes 23 QUICK REFERENCE 61
Banners 25
WARBAND ROSTER 64

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 INTRODUCTION
En Garde! is a skirmish game set during the Renaissance period, in which small
groups of warriors referred to as warbands fight each other for honour or riches.
Rather than just rolling a few dice, En Garde! allows players to make tactical
decisions about how the models that they control will fight – offensively, defensively,
or applying special martial skills.
The Renaissance era ran roughly from the late-14th to the 17th Century, and
saw many ground-breaking discoveries and advancements in the fields of science,
arts, politics and religion. It was also a time of great conflict and advancements
in military technology. Gunpowder weapons began to be widely used, gradually
becoming the dominant battlefield tool. Consequently, personal armour declined in
use with the plate mail-clad knight eventually becoming redundant. Skill in hand-
to-hand combat was still a vital attribute for a warrior, however, and the study of
swordsmanship reached new heights in Europe.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus re-discovered the Americas, which heralded a new
age of colonisation and conflict with the indigenous peoples of the region. The Spanish
conquered the great civilisations of South America, while the British and French
established footholds in North America. This was accompanied by a massive expansion
in trade as ship-building technology evolved to increase the range and size of ships. In
the Mediterranean, however, the galley still reigned until the end of the 16th Century,
used by Christian, Muslim and pirate alike. Beyond the Mediterranean, the seafaring
nations of Europe slowly established vast maritime empires and fought numerous wars
and battles against each other. The 17th Century saw the eruption of the great war of
religion known as the Thirty Years' War on the European mainland, and the descent of

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 the British Isles into civil war. The Ottoman Empire, which had captured Constantinople
in the mid-15th Century, cast a shadow across Eastern Europe for centuries.
The army lists that are contained in En Garde! are all taken from the Renaissance
world, but the rules can be used for almost any period, real or imagined, and the
points system included in this rule book allows players to design their own factions
and warbands.

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY EN GARDE! 

• A warband of up to 20 models.
• A table and a few pieces of scenery.
• A tape measure and a handful of six-sided dice (referred to as D6).
• Counters (about a dozen per player) in two distinct colours, shapes, or sizes.
• Counters to represent wounds (a total of 3 different types).

MODELS
These rules were designed and play-tested using individually based 28mm-scale
miniatures that are referred to in these rules as models. The recommended base sizes
are listed below.

• Infantry: 20–30mm diameter round or square.

• Cavalry: 40–50mm diameter round or 25–30mm by 40–50mm rectangular.

Models also have facings – front and back – that are defined by an imaginary line
through the centre of the base. By and large, a model will be facing to its front. If
ever in doubt, use the D6 Rule (see Basic Principles, below).

CHARACTERISTICS
In En Garde!, each model has the following characteristics:

• Name: This describes the type of model.

• Rank: The model's relative importance:
• Rank 1 models are militia and 'green' warriors.
• Rank 2 models are basic foot soldiers, well-trained and well-equipped.
• Rank 3 models are veteran warriors and non-commissioned officers.
• Rank 4 models are elite warriors with excellent training and equipment.
• Rank 5 models are legendary warriors, generals and leaders.
• Move: The model's movement rate.
• Combat Pool (CP): The model's capacity to make attacks in hand-to-hand
combat and to defend itself. Rank 1 models have a CP of 1, Rank 2 have a CP
of 2, and so on.
• Initiative: The model's ability to strike quickly. This will often be modified by
the weapon it is wielding.
• Fight: The model's skill with hand-to-hand weapons, ranging from 1 to 5.
• Shoot: The model's skill with missile weapons, ranging from 0 to 2.
• Armour Rating (AR): The degree of protection the model has (if any).
• Points: The cost of the model when building your warband.
• Equipment: The weapons and equipment carried by the model.
• Attributes: Special skills and abilities that the model has.

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